Method of treating coal



- combustion of the coal itself remains eifec- Patented July 8, 1924.

UNITED STATES:

THEODORE NAGEL, 0F BROOKLYLI, 'NEW YORK,

un'rnon or TREATING GOAL.

N 0 Drawing.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, Trnaononn NAGEL, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of the borough of Brooklyn, county of Kings, and city andState of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inMethods of Treating Goal, of which the following is a specification.

My invention is directed to a method for economically converting into aproduct that can be commercialized and for which a large market can bedeveloped the enormous quantities of fine anthracite produced and instock piles at mines for which in its present state there existspractically no market.

An object of my invention is the provision of a method whereby culm orother fine coal may be economically agglomerated to make the sameavailable for producing power with the generating equipment now burningNo. 3 buckwheat size of anthracite.

In extremely cold weather railroads place an embargo on the shipment ofsuch fine coal because it freezes solidly in coal cars which makes itditficult and expensive to unload. A further object of my invention,therefore, is the provision of a method for lowering the freezing pointof moist fine coal to prevent the same from freezing while in transit.

My invention is primarily directedto the agglomeration of coal particlessuch as culm or other fine coal, by bringing the coal particles intointimate contact with a gelatinous substance to cause the coal particlesto adhere to each other, forming lumps and thereby enabling the coal tobe burned on grates now burning No. 3 buckwheat size of anthracite, forexample. The ingredients ofthe gelatinous substance employed mayvary butpreferably I employ a substance which when oxidized is capable ofproducing heat in excess of that required to vaporize the solvent waterand water of combination thereby effecting a saving in power, inasmuchas the total heat developed by the tive forgenerating power as no partof this heat produced by the coal is required" to drive off themoisture. I may here mention also that the gelatinous substancepreferably employed in the working of my improved method is of such anature that after the volatiles thereof have been driven off a residueis left which efiectively causes the coal particles to adhere to eachother and Application filed August 26, 1922. Serial No. 584,396.

to remain in lumps until practically reduced to ashes.

It will be seen therefore that it is possible to so treat. culm or otherfine coal by employing my improved method that the fine coal particlesare transformed into porous lumps of fine coal thereby enabling the coalto be burned on grates now employed for No. 3 buckwheat size ofanthracite, for example, these lumps forming a porous fuel bed throughwhich draft can readily pass ,to maintain combustion. I

The nature of the gelatinous substance employed is such as toeffectively hold the fine coal particles together so as to preventexcessive sifting of fine coal with ashes" through grates and stokersdesigned for small coal such as No. 3 buckwheat, and also prevents thefine coal particles being carried off the fuelbed by the draft.

From a commercial standpoint one of the advantages of my inventionresides in the fact that water is a necessity in the working ,of myimproved method and that therefore it is feasible in the practice of myinvention to employ the water which ordinarily 'is' contained by thefine coal to be treated but which water under present preparedfuelmethods is necessarily first of all driven off.-

Another advantage of my improved meth- 0d is the fact that pressure isnot required in the practice of my invention as I have found the coalparticles adhere to each other forming lumps by thoroughly mixing orcommingling the gelatinous substance with the coal particles in aconcrete mixer for example, or other mixing machine, as-distinguished.from the methods employed 1n manufacturing other prepared fuelwithpres'sure. I

While as above pointed out, various substances may be employed formaintaining the fine coal in agglomerated form I prefer to employchemicals such as' commercial silicate of soda and syrup or molassestheliquidv residue after extracting the sugar crystalswith water. I havefound that these ingredients when mixed together form a gelatinoussubstance which has characteristics making this mixture particularlyadapted for us in the practice of my 1nvention as the syrup producesheat in excess of that required to drive off the solvent water, water ofcombination and the moisture of the fuel, thereby reserving the heatgenerated by the coal for the production of power. This gelatinoussubstance has another important characteristic in that when thevolatiles thereof have been driven off a residue is left whicheffectively holds the coal particles in lumps until the coal particlesare practically reduced to ashes.

Of course the relative proportions of the ingredients of the mixtureused to form the gelatinous substance mayvary somewhat but I preferapproximately one part by weight of the silicate of soda, approximatelythree parts by Weight of the syrup and approximately six parts by weightof water. The mixture of these three ingredients in the proportionsmentioned produces a gelatinous substance of what I consider just aboutthe right consistency for efficient agglomeration. As is Well known, themoist culm or fine coal which I propose to treat contains usually about12% of water which is approximately the proper quantity to be employed.However, water somewhat in excess of 12% is not detrimental to theformation of the gelatinous substance and does not necessitate the useof an increased amount of the other ingredients. It is to be understoodthat should the fine coal be too dry the water necessary to theformation of the gelatinous substance must be added. On the other handfine coal from breakers or recovered from river beds should preferablybe drained to'remove excess water.

A mixture consisting of 100 parts by weight of coal, 12 parts by weightof water, 6 parts by weight of syrup ormolasses, and 2 parts by Weight'of silicate of soda, I find produces very economical'and efiicientresults. weight of dry coal there has been added to form the gelatinoussubstance 20 parts by weight of the other ingredients. It is to beunderstood, of course, that a greater or less quantity will produce moreorless good results, and consequently the proportions given above areillustrative rather than definitive.

In the working of my improved method water if required is first of allmixed with the fine coal to be treated, followed by the addition of thesilicate of soda which should be thoroughly mixed with the moist coal.To this batch the syrup is added and thoroughly mixed, which mixing isessential. Themixing in of the water, silicate of soda and syrup may beperformed in anyof the well known mixing machines and this mixing of thewater, silicate of soda and the It will .be seen that to 100 parts bysyrup converts the silicate of soda into a hydrated gelatinous silicawhich forms a. coating on the surface of the coal particles, causing thecoal particles to adhere to each other to form lumps or agglomerationsof fine wcoal particles which may be charged into hoppers of stokers 01chain grates designed for burning No. 3 buckwheat, the coal remaining inlumps until practically consumed As a matter of fact I have found thatfuel prepared as above outlined can be burnedon stationary grates forfine coal provided some care is exercised in charging it into the fireboxes.

As I have above pointed out the gelatinous substance used produced heatin excess of that required to drive off the volatiles of the substanceand it will be apparent therefore that coal agglomerated by my improvedprocess will generate when burned, a greater quantity of effective heatthan that capable of being produced by untreated moist coal.-

As I have above pointed out also, in extreme cold weatherrailroadcompanies place an embargo on the shipment of wet fine coal because isfreezes solidly in the coal cars; The mixing of the syrup or thesilicate of soda or both with the moist coal lowers the freezing pointof the moist coal preventing the fine moist coal from freezing into amass thereby enabling the fuel to be shipped in coal cars in freezingweather and overcoming the cause for placing an embarge on the shipmentof such coal.

1 claim:

The method of agglomerating small coal particles which method consistsin bringing into intimate contact with the coal particles a substanceformed by converting silicate of soda'with water into a hydrate silicato unitethe coal particles into lumps.

2. The method of agglomerating coal particles which methpd consistsin-coarting the surfaces of the coal particles with a substance producedfrom silicate of soda, a syrup and water to unite the coal particlesinto lumps.

3. The method of agglomerating coal particles, which method consists incommin ling the coal particles with a gelatinous su stance produced fromsubstantially one part by weight of silicate of soda, substantiallythree parts by weight of syrup and substantially six parts by weight ofWater.

This specification signed this 24th day of August, 1922.

' THEODORE NAGEL.

